For investors, there is no worse way to start the new fiscal than to see over Rs 1.5 trillion (Rs 1.5 lakh crore) go down the drain in trading that lasted less than six hours.

The cumulative market value of all the companies listed on domestic bourses is estimated to have dropped by a whopping Rs 150,000 crore (Rs 1.5 trillion) on Monday when the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share benchmark Sensex lost 617 points to end at 12,455.37.

More than half of the total loss was shouldered by investors in the country's 30 biggest blue chip companies, which saw an erosion of over Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion) in market value.

The state run oil exploration major ONGC was the biggest loser in value term with a plunge of over Rs 9,500 crore (Rs 95 billion) in its market cap, followed by over Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) loss for companies like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries.

IT major Wipro's market cap reduced by over Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion), while banking scrips like ICICI Bank, which suffered the brunt of the melting markets, lost close to Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) and HDFC dropped by over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).

Car market leader Maruti Udyog plunged over 8 per cent taking its market cap down by about Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion).

Market experts estimate that the fair value for the 30-share BSE Sensex was around 11,500, but they do not deny that the index could fall lower than this as the fundamental picture appears to be less rosy than before.

Morgan Stanley, in a research note to its clients, has said: "As the market tries to forge ahead, we think it is more likely to encounter snakes that gulp it down to lower levels than arrows or ladders that propel it to higher levels."

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